On a recent trip to India, Britain's Prince Charles danced with local villagers. And it was awkward. Royally awkward. TIME takes a look at other dances that are both captivating and horrifying in perhaps not so equal measure

The Prince of Wales Goes for a Spin

By Ishaan TharoorThursday, Oct. 07, 2010

The Prince of Wales, scion of one of the world's most handsomely compensated anachronisms, was in India to inaugurate the games of another related anachronism  the British Commonwealth, that cuddly union of former colonies of the Crown. After the opening ceremonies in New Delhi, Prince Charles voyaged to Rajasthan, the desert state of palaces and fortresses cherished by both yesterday's colonialists and today's tourists. There, at a village, he joined in a local folk dance  or at least attempted to. He briefly saunters around in a circle, every once in a while throwing his hands up as if cornered by an invisible assailant. Then he ends up with a multicolored parasol, which, if intended to obscure his ungainly pose, instead brings the whole majestic farce into greater relief.